# Smartest TV or Movie Character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204 "2010-08-23T20:54:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/21 "2010-08-24T01:40:44Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I don’t watch a lot of different shows, but of the ones I do watch I’d say Greg House . . . at least professionally. His personal life doesn’t indicate much intelligence though. Wisdom vs. Intelligence, man. Compare to Gump, Forrest. > [@Stauderhorse](#): > > Sam Beckett, _Quantum Leap_. > > Has an IQ of 267 and graduated from high school at 16. Completed four years worth of classes at MIT in two years. Has seven doctoral degrees (Music, Medicine, Quantum Physics, Archeology, Ancient Languages, Chemistry, and Astronomy) and speaks 11 languages (including English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and Japanese). Developed the string theory of time travel. Yet, if you actually watched the show, none of that [informed brilliance](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InformedAbility) ever quite comes across; most of the solutions to the Problem of the Week are derived from his compassion & intuition. Ever hear him speak one of those languages? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/22 "2010-08-24T02:08:18Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > > [@Stauderhorse](#): > > > > Sam Beckett, _Quantum Leap_. > > > > Has an IQ of 267 and graduated from high school at 16. Completed four years worth of classes at MIT in two years. Has seven doctoral degrees (Music, Medicine, Quantum Physics, Archeology, Ancient Languages, Chemistry, and Astronomy) and speaks 11 languages (including English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and Japanese). Developed the string theory of time travel. > > Yet, if you actually watched the show, none of that [informed brilliance](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InformedAbility) ever quite comes across I think I’d give him “show, don’t tell” points for music and medicine. And even if we ding him on archaeology because he only ever really displayed a knack for reading hieroglyphics and rattling off a few pieces of trivia, I think he _ **deserves** _ a pass on physics; we not only get to see his time machine up and running, but – in The Leap Back – we actually get to see Sam tinkering with it while in full possession of his faculties. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/23 "2010-08-24T11:00:59Z")
Would have thought Doctor Who should be top of the list. He is improbably intelligent most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/24 "2010-08-24T13:07:56Z")
Beauregard Bottomley in _[Champagne for Caesar](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042325/)_. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/25 "2010-08-24T13:54:46Z")
I’m going to nominate Julian Bashir, from DS9. Unlike many of those named above, he pretty much concentrated on a single field (well, two: medicine & math), which to me is a plus rather thana minus. And he caused a lot fewer problems than a lot of Star Trek geniuses I can name. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/26 "2010-08-24T14:03:24Z")
You’re all living in the wrong universe: the smartest person definitely is [Washu Hakubi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washu_Hakubi), in the Tenchi Muyo universe. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/27 "2010-08-24T14:31:14Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory? Certainly he would think so. I think Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj, if not geniuses, are reaslly high up on the IQ scale. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/28 "2010-08-24T14:37:11Z")
My vote is for Ben Linus of _Lost_. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/29 "2010-08-24T15:41:20Z")
Bugs Bunny ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/30 "2010-08-24T16:06:29Z")
Hm. Tony Stark? He built an arc reactor and a set of flying armor in a friggin’ cave using scrap metal and a propane welder, and it only took him about a week. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/31 "2010-08-24T16:11:17Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Hm. Tony Stark? He built an arc reactor and a set of flying armor in a friggin’ cave using scrap metal and a propane welder, and it only took him about a week. Well, if you are having Tony, then Reed Richards should be in there too, despite not seeming that smart in the movies ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/32 "2010-08-24T16:26:50Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > Would have thought Doctor Who should be top of the list. He is improbably intelligent most of the time. Thought of him first too but the OP says “preferably human.” ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/33 "2010-08-24T16:37:46Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’m going to nominate Julian Bashir, from DS9. Unlike many of those named above, he pretty much concentrated on a single field (well, two: medicine & math), which to me is a plus rather thana minus. And he caused a lot fewer problems than a lot of Star Trek geniuses I can name. I would exclude Dr Bashir because his intelligence was artificially enhanced through genetic engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Kilmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@Kilmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilmore)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/34 "2010-08-24T16:40:59Z")
The chicken hawk. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/35 "2010-08-24T16:48:12Z")
Reid Richards and Charles Xavier come to mind. I suppose I have always identified with Mr. Fantastic. I mean, he is ultra-intelligent and is married to a total babe. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/36 "2010-08-24T16:48:56Z")
Deep Thought. [QUOTE=Deep Thought] The Great Hyperlobic Omnicognate Neutron-Wrangler can talk all four legs off an Arcturan Mega-Donkey but only I can persuade it to go for a walk afterwards. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/37 "2010-08-24T17:01:02Z")
I’d suggest Spock but without a doubt the smartest character is [John Doe from the short lived series of the same name](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320038/) The guy supposedly knew everything, except his own past. > [@](#): > > John Doe is an intelligent adventure series, named after the main character, albeit not by name: ‘John Doe’ is called thus because nobody knows the name of the man who literally fell from the sky, naked, in the sea near an obscure island. When Far Eastern fishermen save him, it soon becomes clear his memory is in a paradoxical state: he has total amnesia concerning his own past, even his real name, but **has more factual knowledge stored in his brain then even the Google computer banks on every possible other subject, as if he had memorized the Library of Congress,** so one rarely needs to read anything when he’s around. He also is intelligent and inquisitive enough to understand and use much of that knowledge, and keeps rolling into all kinds of weird mysteries, teaming up with various characters, each of which must first be convinced he’s legit, such as police detectives Frank Hayes and Jamie Avery, but gets frustrated by finding his own story the most elusive, probably linked to some secret experiment. I win! Right? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/38 "2010-08-24T17:23:52Z")
I think that runs afoul of the “no oracles” stipulation in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/39 "2010-08-24T17:35:09Z")
Chuck has the capacity to become the smartest, well most knowledgeable. i think the OP actually nailed it with doc brown. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204/40 "2010-08-24T17:36:36Z")
Chuck has the capacity to become the smartest, well most knowledgeable. i think the OP actually nailed it with doc brown. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smartest-tv-or-movie-character/551204.md?page=3)